Article handling system

ABSTRACT

A pneumatic conveyor transfers articles from a floor mounted bulk storage bin to an elevated feeding and orienting hopper. The articles are automatically dispensed from the bulk storage bin into an entrance chute on the pneumatic conveyor. At an elevated conveyor discharge station the articles are dropped into the feeding and orienting hopper which includes means for sensing the article supply and activating the dispensing means on demand.

States Patent 1 111] 3,747,738 (116616 14 July 24, 1973 [5 AIR'IHICLEHANDLING SYSTEM 3,330,403 7/1967 Roberts 198/33 AA 3,387,695 6/1968Hendrickson.... 198/33 AA [751 Invent Eugene westfield Ni 2,337,667 121943 Kuehlman 221 10 73 i American Flange & Manufacturing 3,086,8224/1963 F1b1sh 198/33 AA X Co. Inc., New York, NY. PrimaryExaminer-Edward A. Sroka [22] Flled' Sept Attorney-Albert M. Parker [21]Appl. No.: 73,600

Related US. Application Data 57 ABSTRACT [62] 32:52: 3 Sept 1968 Apneumatic conveyor transfers articles from a floor mounted bulk storagebin to an elevated feeding and 52 11.3. cu. 198/33 AA mienting Theauwmaticany 51 1111.11. 865g 47/24 P mm the bulk Wage an entrance 5siFiElldl 0f Search 198/33 AA- 221/10- chute the Pneummic an elevated3O2/2 R veyor discharge station the articles are dropped into 1 thefeeding and orienting hopper which includes means [56] Reierences Citedfor sensing the article supply and activating the dis- UNITED STATESPATENTS pensing means on demand.

3,615,151 10/1971 Sterling 198/33 AA 2 Claims, 5 Drawing FiguresPatented July 24,1973 3,747,738

4 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR 4 09am: $624K ATTORNEY Patented July 24, 1973VP: V

4 Sheets-Sheet 5 n A NHWM Jilin; /d/ INVENTOR M fz/ iA zflescx ATTORNEYPatented July 24, 1973 3,747,738

4 Sheets-Sheet 4 (y f2 4 33/6 7 f 3/ ATTORNEY Alii'llllClLlEliiAlllDlilNG SYSTEM This is a division of application Ser. No. 760,166,filed Sept. 17, i968 now abandoned.

This invention relates to a method and apparatus for handling articlesand is particularly concerned with an integrated system for continuouslysupplying articles from a floor mounted bulk storage bin to an elevatedfeeding and orienting hopper.

The article handling system of this invention has answered a needarising in the container closure field wherein the increasing efficiencyof closure manufacturing and applying operations has necessitated thedevelopment of an improved closure handling system, the basic functionof such system comprising the conveying of closure caps from floor levelto an elevated hoppering station. Mechanical conveyors useable for thispurpose are slow, cumbersome and, due to the presence of moving parts,prone to jamming. Moreover the mechanical conveyor is not very wellsuited for supplying articles upon demand characterized by appreciablefluctuation. Frequent product changeover such as from one lithographydesign to another also renders the mechanical conveyor undesirable inmany situations due to the time consuming, cleaning out operationinvolved to insure against any mixing of design lots.

The article handling system of the invention improves over knownmechanical arrangements by employing a unique pneumatic conveyor foreffectively elevating the closure caps to the hoppering station. Themethod and apparatus herein disclosed avoid the above mentioned priorart deficiencies in metering the closure caps out of the floor mountedbulk storage bin into the pneumatic conveyor entrance by means of anunderslung vibratory feed pan. The caps mixed with air moving at apredetermined velocity are blown up to an elevated position whereuponthe caps are separated from the moving air stream and gently droppedinto a feeding and orienting hopper. A supply sensing device in thehopper activates the vibratory feed pan so that caps are instantaneouslyfed to the hopper on demand.

it is accordingly a primary object of this invention to provide animproved article handling system.

Another object is to provide an improved method of handling articles.

A further object is to provide an improved method and apparatus forconveying articles from a bulk storage supply source to an elevatedarticle orienting station.

A still further object is to provide a method and apparatus forpneumatically conveying closure caps.

Further and more detailed objects will in part be obvious and in partpointed out as the description of the invention, taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawing proceeds.

in that drawing:

lFlG. l is a side elevational view of the article handling apparatus ofthe invention and for carrying out the method thereof;

MG. 2, is an end elevational view of the apparatus of MG. 11;

H6. 3 is a cross sectional elevation view taken on line 3 43 of FM]. 2;

MG. i is an exploded view showing part of the pneumatic conveyor of theinvention; and

Fit is a top plan view of the article discharge station showing thehopper and the discharge section of the conveyor with parts broken awayfor clarity.

Considering first the portion of the article handling system which ismounted at floor level, FIGS. l, 2 and 3 show an upright frame generallyindicated at l. A bulk storage bin 2 is mounted within the upper sectionof the frame l and is provided with a top lid 3 having a handle 1. Aviewing window 5 is also provided ina sidewall of the bin 2 for readilydetermining the article level within. The bin 2 is formed with a funnelshaped bottom section 6 which terminates in a lowermost dischargeopening '7. A vibratory feed pan d is horizontally disposed beneath thebin opening 7 into which the articles Hill) are deposited. As seen inFIGS. 1 and 3, a stan dard vibrator unit 9 is attached to the bottom 8aof the feed pan 8 and rigidly mounted on a plate 110 which is in turnsupported by the frame braces ill. A motor mounting bracket 12 is alsoattached to the plate for supporting a motor 13 with its drive shafthorizontally disposed. The motor 13 is arranged to drive a blower unitild which is joined to an air intake housing 15. A downwardly openingair intake portion in is provided at the bottom of the housing 15 and anair filter (not shown) is mounted within the housing to assure theentrance of clean air to the blower.

The blower l4 forces air into the circular end of a transition conduitmember 17 which tapers the air passage down to a restricted opening 18.The transition conduit member 117 is connected to the bottom of avertically oriented article receiving chute 119 having an outwardlyflared upper end 119a into which the open end 8b of the vibratory pan 8extends. As clearly seen in FIG. 3 the restricted opening 18 of thetransition conduit 17 is disposed in a vertical plane causing the airfrom the blower to be directed horizontally across the bottom wall 19bof the chute l9. Directly opposing the air opening 18 and spacedlaterally therefrom is a conduit opening 20 into which the article andair mixture is blown.

A lowermost upwardly curved conduit portion 21 extends from the opening20 and also acts as a clean out door hingedly mounted at 22 and providedwith a suitable latch mechanism 23. A conduit extension 2d extends forthe desired length above the curved portion 211. A downwardly curvedarticle discharge section is clamped to the upper end of the conduitextension 24 and terminates in a downwardly facing discharge opening 26.As seen in FIGS. 2 and 4, the discharge section 25 is provided with anoutwardly facing wire screen portion 27 adjacent the opening 26.

An article orienting and feeding hopper, generally indicated at 28, ismounted at an elevated position to receive the end of the dischargesection 2. As seen in lFllGS. 2 and 5, the hopper 28 includes ahorizontally disposed turntable 29 onto which the articles W0 aredirectly discharged. An orienting rail 30, supported by brackets 31,overlies and is vertically spaced from an annular zone adjacent theperiphery of the turntable 29. The orienting rail 30 is interrupted byan article exit 32 which directs the oriented articles into an exitchute 33. A light source M and photo electric cell 35 are arranged toform a light circuit extending horizontally for a distance within thespace between the rail Bill and the turntable 2'9 so that the circuit isinterrupted by the passage of oriented articles extending beneath therail Kill. The photo electric cell 35 is electrically connected to thevibrator 9 so as to activate the same upon completion of the lightcircuit.

In operation a quantity of bulk packed articles 100 are dumped into thefloor mounted bulk storage bin 2. ln the form of the inventiondisclosed, the articles handled are closure caps having a cupped bodyand a laterally extending gripping ear. As seen in FIG. 3 a column ofcap articles is formed between the bin discharge opening 7 and thevibratory pan 8. Actuation of the vibrator 9 causes articles 100 toshift away from the column and be conveyed along the path bottom 8atoward the open end 811. During this conveying the articles becomerelatively evenly distributed across the pan bottom 8a. The resultingmovement and distribution imparted to the articles by the vibratory pancauses a kind of dribbling action as the articles fall from the pan end8b into the flared end 19a of the receiving chute 19. This dribbling ormetering action, as distinguished from dumping large quantities at atime into the chute 19, allows a sufficient quantity of air to be blowninto the conduit 20 to prevent clogging of articles at the bottom of thechute.

Air moving at accelerated velocity is directed, through the restrictedopening 18, across the bottom wall 19b of the chute 19 into the conduitopening 20 laterally spaced therefrom. The resulting decrease inpressure in the chute l9 aids in drawing the articles and additional airdown into the bottom of the chute 19. The article air mixture is thenblown through the curved conduit section 21 and up the conduit extension24. Upon reaching the top of the curved discharge section 25 thearticles 100 are deflected downwardly toward the discharge opening 26.However, the air which acts as a conveying medium is permitted to escapethrough the wire screen 27 leaving the articles to fall primarily underthe influence of gravity alone into the hopper 20. This separation ofthe air from the articles prior to their discharge from the opening 26eliminates the turbulence and other undesirable and/or damaging effectsof blowing the articles directly onto the turntable 29.

The articles are then swept, under the influence of a centrifugal force,to the periphery of the turntable 29 where properly facing cap articlesslide under the rail 30 and have their ears properly oriented inwardlyalong When the supply of articles in the hopper becomes low, a gap willoccur in the line of articles being fed under the rail 30. When such agap moves between the light source 34 and the photo electric cell 35 thelight circuit is completed and the vibrator 9 is activated causingadditional articles as required to be fed into the chute 19. When thebulk supply bin 2 becomes low as indicated by the level of articlestherein as viewed through the window 5 it can be easily and convenientlyrefilled by an operator at floor level.

The pneumatic conveyor article handling system herein disclosed isparticularly suited for relatively high speed operations in that thehopper is instantaneously resupplied upon signaling of the photoelectric cell for more articles. The pneumatic conveyor described alsopossesses a desirable instantaneous, self cleaning feature which greatlyaids in the changeover from one lot of articles to another such as inthe case of cap articles carrying different lithography designs.Finally, not to be overlooked is the much greater installationflexibility and the substantial saving in fabrication of the inventionsystem as compared to more cumbersome mechanical conveyor arrangements.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent is:

l. The method of conveying closure caps comprising dumping randomlyoriented closure caps into a bulk supply, withdrawing limited quantitiesof closure caps from said bulk supply, intermittently dispensing said 7withdrawn closure caps in a controlled manner, introradial lines as thearticles are conveyed in a circular ducing said bulk dispensed closurecaps under the influence of gravity into a restricted closure capconveying passage, decreasing the air pressure in said passage,accelerating said closure caps away from said path, applying acontinuous upwardly directed uniformly applied force to said closurecaps, conveying said closure caps to an elevated location, releasingsaid closure caps from the influence of said force, properly orientingsaid released closure caps, feeding said oriented closure caps to asubsequent work station, sensing the presence of oriented closure capsin feeding position and controlling said closure cap dispensing throughsaid sens- 2. The method as in claim 1 wherein said withdrawing iscontrolled by said sensing.

1. The method of conveying closure caps comprising dumping randomlyoriented closure caps into a bulk supply, withdrawing limited quantitiesof closure caps from said bulk supply, intermittently dispensing saidwithdrawn closure caps in a controlled manner, introducing said bulkdispensed closure caps under the influence of gravity into a restrictedclosure cap conveying passage, decreasing the air pressure in saidpassage, accelerating said closure caps away from said path, applying acontinuous upwardly directed uniformly applied force to said closurecaps, conveying said closure caps to an elevated location, releasingsaid closure caps from the influence of said force, properly orientingsaid released closure caps, feeding said oriented closure caps to asubsequent work station, sensing the presence of oriented closure capsin feeding position and controlling said closure cap dispensing throughsaid sensing.
 2. The method as in claim 1 wherein said withdrawing iscontrolled by said sensing.